


Fears

by CurlyCue



Series: Homestuck/Reader Drabbles [13]
Category: Homestuck, MS Paint Adventures
Genre: Clowns, Flushed Romance | Matesprits, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Gender-neutral Reader, M/M, Mice, Other, Pale Romance | Moirallegiance, Phobias, Reader-Insert, Storms, Strong Language, Thunder and Lightning, Troll terminology, fears, they/them pronouns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-21
Updated: 2016-08-21
Packaged: 2018-08-10 03:02:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7827811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CurlyCue/pseuds/CurlyCue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Storms and rodents and trolls, oh my!<br/>What is Reader afraid of?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fears

**Author's Note:**

> **Prompt -** "What is [Name] afraid of?"  
>  Character Generator chose **Eridan** , and I had lots of fun writing this for it! 
> 
> **Eridan/Reader -** matespritship  
>  **Karkat/Gamzee -** moirallegiance
> 
> Please enjoy! <3

Thunder boomed outside the ship-like hive, and much to Eridan’s surprise, [Name] merely relaxed. He raised an eyebrow, and his fins twitched. 

“You’re not scared of storms?” 

They blinked and looked over at him in confusion. “Huh? No, of course not. Why would I be?”

He looked perplexed. “I thought all humans w-were scared of thunder and lightning, or at least most of them. Isn’t that w-what you said w-when you told me about phobias?” 

They continued to look confused for a moment, then laughed. “Oh, no. Eridan, honey, I said it’s common, not that everyone is scared of them. I actually like storms, which is kind of weird, but not being afraid of them isn’t exactly unheard of. And phobias are really, really bad fears, not just the little shoots of fear you normally feel in everyday life.” 

Eridan looked away, a little embarrassed. “Oh,” was all he said in reply. 

Their expression softened. “You dork,” they murmured, moving closer to cuddle up to him. “It’s okay to not know something, you know, and it’s fine to be wrong about things, too. If you don’t make mistakes, you can’t learn from them, after all.”

He snorted, wrapping an arm around their waist, pulling them closer. “W-Well, if I knew those things in the first place, I w-wouldn’t need to make mistakes to learn them, w-would I?” 

[Name] sighed, resting their head on his shoulder. “I suppose not, but I think it’s worth it, if only for the feeling you get when you finally understand something.” 

Eridan thought for a moment, then let out a sigh. “I guess you’re right,” he admitted begrudgingly. 

They smiled and jested, “Of course I am.”

\--

A scream echoed through the hive, and [Name] bolted up from their spot at the table and frantically scrambled to the bathroom, where the sound had originated, only to find a trembling Eridan standing precariously on top of the load gaper. 

“W-Wha-WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING?” He screeched, pointing at something behind the door. Intrigued, they carefully peeked around the door to see a mouse. 

“Oh, geez,” they groaned. “Eridan, it’s just a mouse. It’s not really all that harmful, just don’t let it scratch or bite you, it might be carrying diseases. Get off the t- load gaper and get out here, ‘cause now we have to find out how to get rid of mice.”

He stared at [Name], eyes wide, then looked between them and the rodent. “How are you so calm about this?” He demanded. 

They shrugged. “It’s just a mouse. If necessary, you can step on it, and then it’s dead,” they explained, “so my only concern is whether they’re in the walls, because where there’s one, there’s bound to be more.”

Eridan looked like he might faint. “There are MORE OF THEM?”

\--

[Name] was sitting on the counter as Eridan prepared dinner for them, and they had been joking around for the past few minutes. [Name] had just stopped laughing, wiping a tear from their eye when they noticed something odd. 

“Eridan, why’re you making so much? Are you extra hungry or something?” They teased, moving to poke him in the stomach. He dodged and laughed. 

“I told you earlier, w-we’re having company ov-ver.” 

They smiled, raising an eyebrow. “Oh? Sorry, I must’ve forgotten. Who’s coming?” 

Eridan winked. “W-Well, for starters, I know you w-will be, later tonight.” 

[Name] laughed, playfully smacking his shoulder. “Dude, seriously? I actually want to know who our guests are.”

He rolled his eyes, but conceded all the same. “Fine, fine, it’s Gamzee and Karkat.”

Eridan wasn’t sure what he was expecting- maybe for them to nod and say “okay,” like they usually did, or even for them to laugh and poke fun at him for his obvious pitch feelings for Karkat- but it certainly wasn’t this. [Name]’s playful expression fell, and they noticeably tensed up. 

“Gamzee… that’s the clownish one, right?” They shifted uncomfortably, leaning down to scratch an itch on their shin. 

“I guess that’s one w-way to describe him, yeah. W-Why? Did he do something? If he did something, I’ll kill him.” Eridan replied, all seriousness as he glared into the sizzling pan. 

“No, no, he didn’t do anything wrong, it’s… it’s fine.” [Name] said quickly, pasting on a nervous smile, then added jokingly, “Besides, killing him would mean Karkat would have to kill you. Gamzee’s his moirail, after all, right?” He narrowed his eyes at them, then looked away, shaking his head slightly. [Name] looked confused. 

“What? They’re not? What are they then, matesprits? No, I could’ve sworn they were mo--” 

“[Name], you don’t have to lie to me,” Eridan stated firmly, interrupting their tangent and effectively cutting them off. “If one of my friends did something to upset you, I w-want to know.” His grip on the pan had tightened, they noticed, and following their line of sight, he hastily loosened his grip. 

“I-I’m not lying,” they replied, bewildered at his sudden change of attitude. “Nobody’s done anything. In fact, they’ve all been nothing but kind to me!” 

“Then w-why are you acting so fucking nerv-vous and uncomfortable?” He snapped, and they flinched. Upon seeing this, Eridan’s eyes softened, hit by regret, and he went back to glaring into the pan, jaw clenched. “I’m just w-worried. This isn’t like you. I shouldn’t hav-ve yelled. Sorry.”

[Name] swallowed the lump in their throat and stared at the floor. “No, it’s fine, you have every right to act this way. I just… really, really don’t like clowns. Your friends haven’t done anything, and I’m not lying to cover for them or anything.” 

Finally, they admitted it. [Name] was deathly scared of clowns. Of course Gamzee would make them uncomfortable. 

Eridan’s eyes widened. “Shit, really? God, now I feel like an asshole, you should’v-ve said something sooner!” 

[Name] was about to retort about how they didn’t know how they would even start that conversation when they were so rudely interrupted by the doorbell. 

“Oh, fuck,” the two groaned in unison.

**Author's Note:**

> Fuck yes XD
> 
> This was awesome to write, I seriously loved writing this. Hopefully you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. 
> 
> Any and all constructive feedback is very much appreciated, feel free to leave a kudos or a comment! <3


End file.
